100,000 kids to be tracked

Chicago area part of big U.S. project

November 20, 2007|By Eve Becker, Special to the Tribune

The goal of a new federally funded study of children's health will be massive: to prevent and treat some of the nation's most pressing health problems, such as autism, asthma, diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

And the scope is no small stuff: studying children from before birth to age 21.

By tracking kids throughout their childhood, researchers hope to address elusive health issues that are increasingly prevalent in the United States.

The Chicago area provides a key piece to that puzzle, with its large, diverse population that will help researchers assess the health of America's children.

It's all part of the National Children's Study, the largest and longest study of children's health ever conducted in the United States.

Looking for causes

By studying genetic factors as well as environmental influences, such as exposure to toxins, researchers hope to pinpoint the causes of serious health conditions that may have their beginnings in early childhood.

Locally, the study will follow 4,000 children in Cook County from before birth to age 21.

Dr. Jane Holl, leading the effort locally, is well aware of the enormity of the undertaking. She heads a team from Northwestern University 's Feinberg School of Medicine, which recently was awarded a seven-year, $32 million contract from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to be the Chicago study center.

"This is so important for understanding childhood diseases, but also, so many adult diseases have their antecedents in childhood," said Holl, associate professor of pediatrics, preventive medicine and health-care studies at the Feinberg School. She also is medical director for patient safety and an attending physician at Children's Memorial Hospital.

Researchers will work with neighborhood and community organizations as well as birthing hospitals to recruit 4,000 children in Cook County. If funding is secured next year, 2,000 children from Will County and 2,000 from DuPage County also will be enrolled in the study.

The Chicago area was selected in a competitive process because of its high birth rate and diverse population with many new immigrants. "This affords us the opportunity to take into account different racial and ethnic backgrounds and see how they influence the outcome," Holl said.

The study's results also will provide a rich resource for planning for the health needs and education of children in the Chicago area, she added.

The effort is extensive. Researchers will take samples of the air children breathe, the water they drink, the dust in their homes and the chemicals used in the construction of their homes and schools.

Scientists will analyze cord blood from babies' births, hair and nails from children, samples from their food and soil from their play areas to examine how environmental and genetic factors influence their health.

The results from all the communities will, when taken together, represent the face of America's children, said Sarah Keim, deputy director of the program office for the National Children's Study.

Across the country

"This data will be very valuable for learning about children throughout the country," Keim said. "We can collect data across time. We can look at some of the root factors where the disease doesn't even appear until well into childhood or adulthood."

The study is unprecedented in its breadth, following 100,000 children across the country. In most other longitudinal studies, researchers don't have actual data from childhood and instead rely on asking adults about their youth.

"It is the only way you can actually determine causality -- that is the huge contribution this study will make," Holl said. "We'll be able to look at external factors versus genetic predisposition; family-related factors versus community and environmental factors."

Northwestern joins 21 other new study centers, and seven already have established vanguard centers. The study is a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Investigators from the University of Chicago and University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health will help with community outreach and coordinate clinical services for study participants in their areas. The National Opinion Research Center also will participate.

Recruitment will continue through July 2009, and some early results from the data will be available in 2012 or 2013.